Get Experience

There are many ways to build your resume and get valuable experience. Working on- or oﬀ -campus, volunteering, or working on a research project are all excellent ways to explore speciﬁc career ﬁelds while networking with professionals, building your skills, and enhancing your resume. Whether a position is paid or unpaid, on-campus or off-campus, it’s the experience that counts. Learn what makes each position different, why it’s a valuable experience, and how you can find available opportunities.

If you are an MSU student here are some resources available to you. You can find both internships and other learning experiences that will help build your resume and pave the road to future employment. Remember even if you don’t get an internship right away, by gaining experience in your field you’ll make yourself more marketable for that dream internship.

Handshake is MSU’s career management system, offering on- and off-campus job listings for full-time, part-time, seasonal, and paid internship positions, as well as schedules of on-campus interviews, workshops, and other career events. The service allows you to post resumes and job-search. To register and log-in, click here.

Working on campus is a great way to start building your resume while earning money. Each year MSU hires over 17,000 student employees. Many of these positions are areas that can grow into an internship after a little experience and networking.

Venture is a database of undergraduate research, scholarship and creative opportunities available on campus to MSU undergraduate students. Simply stated, you learn better when engaged in work. Venture is a shared process between faculty and students. Undergraduate research combines research and teaching in a discovery-based process. Working closely with faculty and learning more in-depth about different fields of study, you gain real-world experiences that prepare you for careers and/or graduate school. Their website is http://venture.msu.edu .

Career Services links you to all campus-wide career fairs, speed networking, etiquette dinners and more. Check under “Upcoming Events” or search our site for other opportunities.

Student Organizations can provide valuable information regarding internship opportunities for specific fields of interest. Check with members of your student organization to see where they may have interned in the past. Find a student organization by searching the directory here.

Faculty. Many students feel intimidated by the thought of asking a faculty member to sit down and discuss future career options with them. Many faculty members have professional contacts in the field and are a great resource to put you in touch with the right people. Ask if they would be willing to set up an appointment to talk through some career options you’ve been thinking about.

Volunteering: If you have little to no experience and getting your foot in the door for an internship or job requires experience, think of taking that first step through volunteering. You can find many opportunities through MSU’s Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. The web is a great place to start searching for volunteering in your area. Multiple websites are available including Volunteer Match at http://www.volunteermatch.org/. Again if you can narrow your search down by type of organization or geographic location, you’ll be that much closer to getting started.

Student Event Ambassador: Consider volunteering as a student representative in hosting employers during on-campus events. Recruiters notice the work ambassadors put in during the event, so it is a great networking opportunity.